Exelon's zap control

Elizabeth Lynch of Exelon Corp. and 8-year-old Payton Beeler. Exelon provides money and mentors to nonprofit Working in the Schools.

Before cutting a big check to any charitable organization, Chicago power giant Exelon Corp. vets the group via websites Charity Navigator and GuideStar. The next step: sitting down with nonprofit leaders and getting to know them, the board members, other funders and other nonprofits with whom the charity works.

“We pick up the phone and call their collaborators: 'How is that relationship going? Is it mutually beneficial? Do you have any concerns?' “ says Steve Solomon, Exelon's vice president of corporate relations. “You have to do a little . . . I don't want to use the term 'detective work,' but you want to make sure they are who they say they are.”

One of Exelon's successful partnerships is with Working in the Schools, a nonprofit that provides mentoring and tutoring to low-income Chicago students. The company donates money to the nonprofit and involves its employees directly, through a mentorship program wherein Chicago public school students are bused to Exelon headquarters after school once a week. WITS Executive Director Brenda Palm says the relationships leave Exelon employees, the students and their parents with a warm feeling—a direct way to spread goodwill based on relationships rather than image.

“The visibility and branding is sometimes an additional outcome—but that never feels like the driver,” she says. “The program is taking place in the workplace, so they see the impact on the kids . . . and the kids get to see these people taking time out of their workday. They come back just carrying themselves more professionally, like 'I went to Exelon today.' “